Bio of TDR

TDR is a working professional in entertainment and is obsessed with the game of hockey. More four years ago, this site emerged as a means (or an outlet) to tell some truth'isms about the game post-lockout, rather than the crud fed to us through knuckleheads like Jimmy Dolan and his lemmings universe. Today, there are a hundred Rangers sites and is thankful and grateful to all those that have come after him, but honorable thanks go to his fellow Dark-writers, Graying Mantis and J_Undisputed. And "Let's Go Rangers!"

Bio of Graying Mantis

Graying Mantis is in fact a graying legal practitioner by day (and sometimes, alas, by night). In the cobwebs of his memory, he recalls starting to follow the Blueshirts in 1970 and remembers watching pivotal playoff games against the Blackhawks on a snow-covered Hartford t.v. channel in their 1972 march to the Finals. Giacomin, Gilbert, Ratelle, and Hadfield seen skating on a small B&W TV screens always will be among his first Ranger memories. He is grateful beyond words for the opportunity to work with his colleagues here in their never ending battle to inform and entertain. Most of all, he appreciates the chance to engage with fellow hockey fans.

Bio of J_Undisputed

"J_Undisputed is an Information Tech Professional; a student, and on and off in his dreams, Mike Richter. He caught his first glimpse of Rangers Hockey when an overtime preempted his favorite pro wrestling broadcast on WWOR-9 one late saturday night when he was 5 and he's been hooked ever since. He's been watching the Rangers for 30 years despite family attempts to make him an Islander Fan (Rest easy...they're out of the will). What started as a minor annoyance has become a life long passion (and at times, a frustration...But he wouldn't trade it for anything). Lets Go Rangers!"

Bio of General Ganz

General Ganz is a cynical yet well-informed student of the human spirit. He's a professional of sorts, with a post-graduate education, some experience working in real companies, and some limited athletic ability. The total small package. He got picked on a fair bit as a kid, and he experienced his first human-non-relation kiss in his teens. He also grew up on the other side of the tracks, thereby helping to cultivate a healthy contempt for dreamers and optimists whose rosy upbringing gave them something to smile about, even when "life produced lemons." Like it or not, his only mission is to point out the potholes you're lucky enough to miss on your drive to work. To find the blemish on your daughter's carefully-stitched (and not-yet-paid-for) wedding dress. To take that little smidgen of hope that your favorite hockey teams fill you with, and pour orange paint on it. Oh, and he is a Blueshirts fan, and takes most of his fashion direction from Ron Duguay (whose name he dropped as a way to close the deal on that first kiss).

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Could we possibly say anything that we haven't already said, you haven't already read or, more importantly, can anything/anyone provide any stability to a team that hasn't figured out what it wants to be when it grows up? Herein lies the story of the New York Rangers.

The abomination of a game last night against the Montreal Canadiens exemplified a team that is much like a 100-year old house, rather than franchise -- one desperately in need of renovation, some new plumbing, and a complete internal makeover. The team is slowly falling apart by the beams, a little crack here and there, and now the weathered Rangers are looking around to see why the roof is caving in. The house of MSG is an eye sore.

The Rangers were shut-out for the second straight game and for the fourth time in seven contests. The Rangers have been outscored 8-0 in their two latest losses after winning their previous two by a combined score of 14-4. Previously mentioned last post, after two huge wins taking the Canadiens 6-2 last week followed by an 8-2 drubbing of the Tampa Bay Lightning, I think many of us fans were believing that this Rangers team may be turning a corner and a winning streak was foreshadowed. After a physically limp performance against Philly on Thursday night and now a publicly humiliating undressing in front of the Montreal fans last night, as Rangers fans we find ourselves sitting in the shitter once again -- on that roller coaster that never goes higher than the drops. At least when you pay for an amusement park, you generally always get what you pay for.

Here is a picture of Wade Redden's wedding, to remind us that he's really just a family man and a good guy.

I think we can all say with certainty that our team has lost their confidence -- coach Tortorella has lost faith in just about everyone on the squad, which potentially puts him at risk for 'how long can Torts sustain' this level of accountability to his players and at what point will the players turn around and blame the coach. Time will show. Who else can you blame when you're stuck with Redden, Rozsival, and Chris Drury contracts?

Goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist is not to blame. He was let down by his defenders. Pulled after three goals, Matt Zaba debuted as a New York Ranger and played well. Not well enough as three-goals were to follow. Again, the D-sucked the biggie.

Pest Sean Avery was probably one of three players that actually worked harder than any last night, along with his CRASHmates Brian Boyle and Aaron Voros; Ryan Callahan continues to work harder than anyone around him, our D-men were nothing but disappointing begging for the MSG brass to trade away one of our bloated Redden-Rozzy contracts (plus Dubinsky, etc) for a blueliner such as Sheldon Souray or Dion Phaneuf to provide stability to our blueline. Dan Girardi and Rozzy were horrible last night. If they can convince one of these veterans that NYC and the MSG-first-class treatment is enough to play for a hopeless team, more power to them....because SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE.

For those reading this blog for the first time, note that this is a nice post after what we've lived through this season, so rest up readers of Blue, an easy team named the Pittsburgh Penguins await us tomorrow night at the Garden --- not a test of whether or not this is a turning point, but a test of scoring a goal and avoiding another shut-out. We don't expect to win at this point, but only to survive. At least we spend our evenings supporting Blue with low expectations --- because when they win, we begin to take back a little of that belief system we crave every time they deliver.

3 comments:

I am trying to think why last year's team was so much more competitive. I think a lot has to be blamed on the total loss of the 4th line. The Rangers have not replaced that line yet. Last year, you knew who was on that line and who would lead the PK unit. This year, almost anyone ends up on the 4th line. That's ridiculous. How many times was Orr, Betts or Sjostrom a healthy scratch? Primarily it was Prucha (stupid Renney) and Voros.

Bad team constructed by Sather. Bad idea by Torts to insist on Brashear instead of the loyal, hard-working Orr.

This site/blog is not affiliated with the New York Rangers or The National Hockey League in any manner whatsoever. Some photos on this site are used w/out permission but are hosted on the blogger server, therefore not interfering with the profit or bandwidth of the original owner. If you are the owner of a specific image that we have used in our blog , please email me at amv613@hotmail.com to have it removed - we will gladly remove it immediately.

If you have a hockey blog/website and would like to place a link on our site, please contact me & we can do a link exchange (the best way to get more traffic to our blogs).

Any offer of 'tickets at cost' is exactly that -- I have season tickets and will sell them for what I paid --- so no mark-ups.

The Dark Ranger is a not-for-profit site, not officially, but we derive no income at all from anything on this site; in fact, DARK at his own expense enjoys the freedom of having no sponsors and speaking his f*cking mind.